Author Topic: NEW SCANDIA JANE DOE: WF, 30-65, found dismembered in Washington County, MN - 12 June 1993  (Read 250 times)

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WOMAN'S FOOT FOUND IN RIVER AFTER HEAD FOUND ON LAKESHORE

St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) - Wednesday, June 16, 1993
Author: BYLINE: Mike Sweeney, Staff Writer

A human foot fished from the Mississippi River on Monday apparently belongs to a woman whose head floated to the shore of a Washington County lake over the weekend.

``We are assuming they are from the same person,'' Ramsey County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael McGee said Tuesday. ``We sincerely hope so.''

Samples from the head and left foot of the unidentified woman will be DNA-tested to verify that they match.

McGee released a police artist's sketch of the woman to the news media in hopes someone will recognize her.

``I think it's pretty accurate,'' he said of the sketch. ``I think it (the woman's likeness) is going to be close to that.''

Without an identification, authorities are stymied in their efforts to investigate the woman's death.

``We must establish the identity of this lady,'' McGee said. ``That is the most important thing right now.''

Washington County sheriff's Capt. David Heuer agreed.

``There is not much more we can do until we find out who she is,'' said Heuer, chief of the sheriff's investigative unit. ``Right now, we have nowhere to go.''

McGee and Heuer said there is little doubt someone killed the woman, dismembered her and placed body parts in at least two locations.

``There is definitely a real sick person who did this,'' Heuer said, adding, ``it could be more than one person.''

A man walking along Bone Lake in Washington County noticed the woman's head floating just off the north shore near 238th Street and an old boat access ramp at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday. He called the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

Then, at about 8:40 p.m. Monday, a family fishing near Warner and Childs roads in St. Paul spotted the foot floating in the Mississippi River and called police.

Police conducted extensive ground and water searches for other body parts at both sites, but found nothing. An aerial search is planned later this week.

McGee said it appears someone killed the woman and disposed of her two or three days before her head washed ashore at Bone Lake, which is on the border of Chisago County a few miles east of Forest Lake.

The lake is about 30 miles from the site on the Mississippi River where the family found the foot. The two bodies of water are not connected.

McGee refused to say what type of instrument the killer might have used to dismember the woman. Police said Monday an extremely sharp blade cut cleanly through the woman's neck to the backbone, which had been sawed through.

The killer severed the foot above the ankle, McGee said. Police found red nail polish on the third and fourth toes of the foot, which the medical examiner estimated to be a size 9.

McGee said it is not possible to determine the woman's height or weight by viewing just her head and foot, so her overall size has not been determined.

Investigators described the woman as a brown-eyed, fair-skinned white in her 20s to 30s with multi-layered dark brown or black hair worn in a short, possibly spiked, cut with a pigtail.

Three small holes pierced each of her ears, indicating she wore multiple earrings. She also had several chin hairs.

The sheriff's department has received numerous calls reporting missing women, but none appear to be linked to the unidentified dead woman.

``They either have been located or haven't fit the description,'' said Sgt. Roy Childers. ``We haven't got one we're really zeroing in on yet.''

Police asked anyone with information about the woman to call Childers at 430-7823 or 439-9381.